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B12
life
Guardian www.guardian.co.tt Thursday, November 13, 2014
WESLEY GIBBINGS
Retired Guyanese diplomat, Rudy Insanally, does
not consider his latest publication to be an "academic
text" but substantial sections should make it to the
list of required reading for anyone interested in
acquiring a sound understanding of the worlds of
diplomacy and global politics and the relationship
between the two disciplines.
Dancing Between the Raindrops---A Dispatch from
a Small State Diplomat, is also every inch a delicate
exercise in easing between the vagaries of coarse and
parochial political reality and the velvet trimmings of
the international convention hall. It s more ballet than
robust bélé as the diplomat, who once thought he
should be a politician, seems to emerge from the
Guyanese raindrops dry as a bone. It s almost all school
text until chapter eight and an exploration of the
"interplay" between politics and religion. Here, the
torrent is more difficult to negotiate. "Abstention from
the two topics," Insanally writes, "made eminent
sense."
Chapter eight therefore purports to venture where---
in a career spanning 47 years---the author dared not
previously tread. There is, however, little evidence in
the chapter that he has any intention of so doing,
even in retrospect. "Sometimes ... the issues would
creep up on me so suddenly, that I had no time to
retreat," Insanally writes. "As I became older, it became
increasingly difficult to avoid these thorny traps to
the point where, to save myself from entanglement,
I became more agile and fleet of foot."
Unless there is the subtle suggestion that "race" in
the context of this chapter s enticing title, is an abstruse
reference to the unreferenced religious convictions of
the country s political leaders over the years, there is
no exploration of the dynamics that drove what are
presented as defining differences in approach on the
part of everyone from Forbes Burnham to Donald
Ramotar. There is little recourse to rigorous analysis
of political philosophy and the matters that distin-
guished one political actor from the other. Here was
the author s opportunity to engage the rainfall but he
retreats.
Burnham, for instance, was "known both for his
oratorical skills and his autocratic leadership style."
Hoyte was "also a dominant figure, given I am told,
to intemperate outbursts whenever he was upset by
his staff." Cheddi Jagan, who succeeded Hoyte in a
landmark 1992 election, was "an honest and simple
man whose great passion for improving the lot of the
Guyanese people aroused by admiration for him." Of
former president, Bharrat Jagdeo, who appointed him
"a technocrat minister," Insanally saw "a decisive and
dynamic leader" who was "able to reduce considerably
the nation s huge debt burden and to return the country
to a development path." Then came incumbent Pres-
ident Ramotar who "has committed himself to pursuing
many of his predecessor s policies especially in the
social sector."
Following his seven-year stint as Foreign minister,
Insanally was engaged as a foreign policy adviser to
Jagdeo and then Ramotar. "I must confess," he writes,
"that my last post as adviser to both presidents Jagdeo
and Ramotar on foreign affairs, was hardly inspiring."
He relies on Henry Kissinger s famous quip that he
was in the habit of consuming his energies "in offering
unwanted advice" to suggest that his knowledge and
experience were not always relied upon in the crafting
of a Guyanese response to world affairs.
This section of the chapter ought to have been ten
times as long as the current version. Instead, there
is the delicate tip-toe to the safety zone. "In some
countries such as ours ... the needs of the people are
great and their expectations are even greater," he says.
"Small states," he argues, "often lack the capacity,
structurally and otherwise to guarantee good gover-
nance, " Readers who have spent any time on Multilateral Diplo-
macy for Small States---The art of letting others have your way,
Insanally s 2013 publication, would have come away somewhat
disappointed that a book much better grounded in some of the
origins of turbulent contemporary Guyanese reality had not
been forthcoming.
In the end, students of international relations practice have
much more to gain from this publication than those in search
of greater insights into the Guyanese problematique.
Dancing Between the Raindrops...
More ballet than bélé
Former Guyanese diplomat
Rudy Insanally